It is shameful, however, that Obama did not take a moment Monday to issue an equivalent statement of moderation to elements within the American Muslim community who might claim solidarity with the Little Rock shooter.

...give you advance warning like this... but let's take them at their word and start bringing up reinforcements...

-- AKWESASNE, Ont. -- Mohawk Warriors from the Akwesasne reserve near Cornwall, Ont. say they will storm a Canada Border Services Agency post on Monday and shut down the international border crossing unless their political leaders receive a commitment from the federal government not to arm border guards at the post, which stands on reserve territory.

“We are going to clear them out,” said Thomas Stacy, a middle-aged former professional wrestler who stood across from the border post with a small group of young men carrying large Mohawk Warrior flags on Saturday.

Minutes earlier, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on two counts of first-degree murder against 23-year-old Sadiqi, who gunned down his 20-year-old sister, Khatera, and her fiancé, Feroz Mangal, 23, in the early hours of Sept. 19, 2006 while the couple was sitting in her parked car.

Prosecutor Mark Moors said Sadiqi was motivated by a “perverted notion of honour and respect … for the sole purpose of restoring the family’s reputation and respect in the Afghan community.”

President Barack Obama will offer his personal commitment to “change the conversation” with the Muslim world in a long-awaited speech in Cairo this week.

It's not like a robust medieval theocracy can't keep the trains running on time.

Obama has put President George W Bush’s democracy agenda on the back burner in an attempt to strengthen the alliance between America and moderate Arab states against Iran and radical Islamic groups and to revive the Middle East peace process.

"Terri-Lynne McClintic turned Michael Rafferty in to police -- telling officers about the abduction and murder of Victoria 'Tori' Stafford -- only after she learned he was dating another woman while she was in jail, said the dead girl's mother."

A provincial official in Iran has accused the United States of being behind Thursday's bombing of a mosque that killed at least 19 people.

Jalal Sayah, deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, said three people had been arrested following the attack. "According to the information we obtained they were hired by America and the agents of arrogance," he said.

Jalal Sayah, in comments to the semi-official Fars news agency, accused the attackers of being mercenaries hired by the US.

And, apparently the BBC is good with that contention...

It is a common accusation from the Iranians, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says, and the facts of this case may never be known.

But it is an open secret that former US President George W Bush directed large amounts of money to try to destabilise Iran and there is no sign the policy is any different under President Barack Obama, our correspondent adds.

Oh, man... this is so confusing.

I thought President Hope'n Change was sucking up to the Mad Mullahs... but apparently, he's got the CIA vapourising mosques. Who knew?

Yeah... I bet he's using some of that alien technology they've got hidden away at Area 51.

Convicted killer Richard Raymond Babinski -- claiming that Ojibway blood somehow courses through his mother's family tree, this sudden revelationcoming only after spending years in prison -- sat at his parole hearing in Kingston, his long hair in a braided ponytail, a Native elder at his side, and called himself a "concrete Indian."

Some 300 km away in Toronto, in a second-floor Correctional Service of Canada office on Dundas St. W., Jeremy Mead, the 27-year-old man who Babinski turned into a six-year-old orphan when he raped and then strangled his mother, scoffs at the theatre he is witnessing -- all coming to him via video conference.

"The Indian act is bogus," he later says. "All I saw on that screen was a coward, a rapist and a murderer.

For Mr. Milke, the auto bailouts are typical of political decisions that benefit relatively few people at the expense of millions.

But because the risk of a cross-Canada taxpayer revolt is small compared to the potential payback from voters in hard-up communities in Southern Ontario, the decision to bail out the auto companies is an easy one for politicians.

-- OTTAWA -- Four top executives of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board pocketed nearly $7 million in bonuses this year despite losing $24 billion of taxpayers' money in bad investments, according to the board's annual report released yesterday.

-- TEHRAN, May 28 (Reuters) -- An explosion at a prominent Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on Thursday killed 30 people and wounded 60, the semi-official news agency ILNA reported.

The attack was carried out on a public holiday honouring the first Shi'ite Imam, Ali Ebne-Abitaleb, after whom the mosque is named. Zahedan is a mostly Sunni city.

"Her most high-profile case involved New Haven’s decision to toss out tests used to evaluate candidates for promotion in the fire department because there were no minority candidates at the top of the list."

"She was part of a panel that rejected the challenge brought by white firefighters who scored high but were denied promotion."

-- EDMONTON -- Hart told court a security official at the remand centre called MacDonald the "most difficult inmate" among the 860 housed at the downtown facility. Court heard MacDonald has used illegal drugs, assaulted virtually every inmate bunked with him, "feces-bombed" other inmates, flooded his cell, urinated on the floor, set fires and assaulted and spat on guards regularly.

Court heard MacDonald allegedly started a fire in his cell on Dec. 3 and was then combative with guards and had to be pepper sprayed to get him under control.

On March 3, MacDonald got upset after being told he was being transferred due to his "unacceptable behaviour" and then punched two guards in the face when they went into his cell after he barricaded the door.

And the punch line?

The judge ruled he would only consider bail if there is a treatment facility or other suitable place for MacDonald, 27, to live. Malin adjourned the matter to next week.

27 May 2009

...that the Puffin King was screeching about loosening the government purse strings?And wasn't Iggy also demanding more action on the auto bailout?

Canada's contribution to the bailout of two Detroit auto makers could soar to more than $13-billion with the increasing need for cash by General Motors Corp., which has moved a giant step closer to filing for bankruptcy protection.

The numbers are viewed as still in flux.

The Liberals... they're flexible.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"The Liberals voted to support this budget. So I also could care less about hypocritical Liberals screeching. Its what they do."

And look what happens when the socialists get pouty...Oh, Libby... you gonna challenge me to another duel?

...who get absolutely insane, every time I mention Toronto's burgeoning crime problems. They start screaming about racism... or calling me a nazi. Of course, the fact is, I don't make any of this stuff up.

It's all taken directly from local news sources, word for scary word.

I guess some folks feel it's best to just avert their gaze... to pretend there is no problem. Unfortunately, shooting the messenger really isn't any sort of a strategy.

Or, how about the lunatics who believe that the problem is... lord love a duck... the horrible, racist police? Or that legalising drugs, or setting up government-subsidised whorehouses will magically fix everything?

Toronto Police were called to the Zellers department store at Sheridan Mall in the Wilson Ave. and Jane St. area around 6 p.m. after receiving reports a 43-year-old woman had been stabbed.

"Six months ago, a customer at the mall got stabbed," he said. "It's very scary. The management here doesn't invest much money in security because business is down from the economy."

And this isn't, as some folks would like you to believe, an isolated incident.

Last October, three men were shot in the mall's parking lot. Two days later, Burrell Bennett, 26, died leaving his daughter, 3, without a father.

In 2005, four days before the Boxing Day gunbattle that claimed Jane Creba's life, a man was injured by a shotgun blast outside Sheridan Mall.

And in August of 2004 a mall security guard was stabbed in the head during a confrontation at a Pizza Pizza in the mall.

Now this isn't really my fight anymore... we moved out to Hastings County in 2001.

The thing is, I once lived in this area... as well as putting in a year at the now troubled highrise towers on the northeast corner of Jane and Finch. Every time I hear another one of these stories, I just shake my head.

Once upon a time, you could walk those streets, those neighbourhoods, without a second thought. And now... they are war zones.

After catching him, Mr. Chen said he and his employees tied the man up and put him in a delivery truck, intending to hold him until police arrived. But someone else called 911 first.

Mr. Chen said he spent 24 hours in a holding cell at 52 Division, paid $7,500 bail, and that the suspected shoplifter – also charged – got out of custody before he did.

So where do you draw the line here? Obviously the cops can't be everywhere.

Is this kidnapping... or simply protecting you and yours?

Sounds like the local merchants have made their decision...

Nearby shopkeepers fed up with thieves are rallying to his defence, saying police are too slow to respond when called about shoplifters and often let them off with a warning.

“We hope police can protect us and keep out businesses running,” Mr. Chen said in an interview. “Now, they are … on the criminals' side, not our side.”

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RELATED: Toronto... the fun just never stops

Toronto police have released a photo of a man wanted for allegedly shooting a gun in a Scarborough strip mall in the middle of the day.

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Timothy White, 19, of Toronto. He is wanted for discharging a firearm endangering life, careless use of a firearm, using a weapon dangerous threatening public peace and possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition.

Khoro Pervaiz, the commissioner of Lahore, cited "a large number of casualties" though a tally was not exactly known.

**********

UPDATE: Allah must be so proud...

-- ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 27 -- At least 30 people were killed and more than 250 injured Wednesday when an explosives-ridden car blew up outside a police building in the Pakistani city of Lahore, government officials said.

The attack also involved unknown gunmen who fired shots at and around the targeted police office, known as Rescue 15, just before the car detonated.

26 May 2009

The proprietor of a Caribbean restaurant on Morningside Ave. near Lawrence had just finished preparing some jerk chicken outside in anticipation of the dinner rush. He came back into his diner when the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

As he turned around, he got the shock of his life - a man was standing behind him pointing a weapon straight at him. Without waiting for him to pull the trigger, the owner raced out of the building and into the convenience store next door.

And this one gets better... the shooter chases the guy into the store next door and throws a shot. Said master criminal then jumps into his nearby car.

But this drama was far from over. An observant witness got the licence plate of the fleeing car and cops quickly traced it to an apartment building at 90 Mornelle Ct. After a waiting game of several hours, they finally took their suspect into custody.

The big problem for the Liberals is that the Tory ads, while exaggerated, are largely true: Mr. Ignatieff left the country, more or less permanently, in the 1970s, lived away most of his adult life and showed no intention of returning until he was seduced back by the idea of becoming Liberal leader in 2005.

Here's where the Liberals are their most hypocritical about the Tories' ads: Imagine their reaction if it were Mr. Harper who had spent 34 years outside the country, moved back only to take a shot at being PM, said the only thing he missed while away was a provincial park and referred to himself as an American many times.

25 May 2009

Three teenagers were charged Monday with second-degree murder in connection with the death of 67-year-old Kim Ngu Lieu, who was attacked in Montreal North last weekend.

Ngu Lieu was at a bus stop at the corner of St. Vital and Henri Bourassa Blvds. late in the evening on May 17 when police allege the three youths surrounded her, brutally beat her, and tried to steal her purse.

A 40-year-old man is under arrest and a 15-year-old girl is in protective custody after York Regional police infiltrated a prostitution ring.

Members of the police Drugs and Vice Unit were told Friday that the teen was allegedly working as a prostitute under the direction of the male suspect. Their investigation led them to a condominium in Toronto where they found the girl and the suspect.

As his government grapples with the ailing economy, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has lost his economic development minister, Michael Bryant, in a move blamed both on a notorious speech Mr. Bryant gave espousing “reverse Reaganomics” and on his leadership ambitions.

A source close to the Premier's Office said that Mr. Bryant's wave-making speech given to at least two audiences earlier this month played a major role in his departure, clearly upsetting a Premier who prefers his ministers take "a more subdued role".

In yet another shameless and incredibly hypocritical defense of Canada's first wannabe American Prime Minister... CTV featured a soundbite from Warren "Special K" Kinsella... the man one Liberal organiser recently described as "Human Shrapnel."

Apparently the Puffin King is the political equivalent of, and I quote... "Wayne Gretzky" or "Celine Dion."

Ignatieff’s future with the Kennedy School remains dependent on whether he is elected.

“If I am not elected, I imagine that I will ask Harvard to let me back,” Ignatieff said. “I love teaching here, and I hope I’ll be back in some shape or form.”

“He is still affiliated with the Carr Center and will remain so,” said Executive Director Fernande Raine. “We hope he will come back at some point depending on how long this run in politics actually takes.”

24 May 2009

Ontario's auditor is probing spending at the delay-plagued provincial agency responsible for developing electronic health records. eHealth Ontario has spent $146 million on consultants since 2003, despite commitments to reign in billings for outside expertise.

And overall agency spending has ballooned to $839 million while the delivery date for province-wide, electronic patient health records has been pushed back to 2015.

This province continues to lag behind other Canadian jurisdictions that have spent far less money and made more progress on electronic health card systems that have reduced medical errors, prescription overdoses and health-care costs.

The human rights case launched by a federal scientist who claimed his former boss hired Chinese researchers because of their willingness to tolerate abuse has been dropped quietly.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal had been scheduled to hear this month the case of Ming Zhou, 46, a Chinese-born scientist who alleged Chander Grover and the National Research Council of Canada had discriminated against him.

The case promised to spotlight the deeply dysfunctional relationship between the NRC and Grover, an Indian-born research physicist who became a senior manager after winning a landmark discrimination case against the federal research agency in 1992.

Those events have outraged Grover, who believes the case against him had been "trumped up" by the NRC as part of its campaign to oust him.

"I am disappointed and upset, yes, because I have been deprived of the opportunity to tell my side of the story," said Grover, who has repeatedly battled the agency in human rights tribunals and courtrooms since 1987.

Yup... the guy who won a landmark "human rights" decision against his employer, the NRC... is being taken to the same tribunal by an underling. The CHRC snake is apparently now eating its own tail.

I once had a friend... a computer programmer, who married a farmer's daughter (no, this isn't the start of a joke).

These two had been together for a decade... had a nice new house and a couple of lovely kids... but my friend's father-in-law just couldn't wrap his head around a man who sat and typed all day for a living.

The fact that my buddy likely grossed at least four times the farmers annual income did not seem to come into play.

This identification of masculinity with hard physical work (no empathy required) is deeply embedded in the history of the human race. For eons, it has been the most common way to be a man.

It seems, in today's rapidly evolving world, there's a sort of intellectual snobbery burbling not too far beneath the surface. We somehow imagine that white collar jobs are always much more valuable and difficult than manual labour. (Try assembling your own car, or growing all your own vegetables for just one year.)

People are pretty adaptable, and education can work wonders. But no matter how much education and retraining we offer, we are not going to transform factory workers and high-school dropouts into customer-care representatives or nurses' aides any time soon.

And don't get me wrong, this isn't about slagging farmers, or steamfitters, or autoworkers... or about a disparity in intelligence.

To even survive as a farmer, you have to be a part-time biologist, meteorologist, accountant, ditchdigger and mechanic.

"McGuinty doesn't appreciate dissent in his ranks. We see that in the backbenchers on a regular basis -- preferring to sing from the premier's hymn book than listen to what their constituents are saying about this (harmonized sales) tax."

-- TORONTO -- A 13-year-old boy was found with a loaded handgun in Toronto's northwest end, police said this morning. The boy was being investigated as part of a shooting investigation in the Jane St. and Falstaff Ave. area, south of Wilson Ave., when cops found the gun around 6:45 p.m. yesterday, Toronto Police said in a news release.

He was charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm knowing its possession is unauthorized, possession of a prohibitedfirearm with ammunition and carrying a concealed weapon.

Of course, under the Young Offenders Act... he was home before bedtime.

One inmate named Darcy, who murdered his in-laws and his wife, says, “I'm not going to let their deaths be in vain.”

Murderers, rapists and contract killers, they have spent much of their adult lives behind bars. But this place, known as Kwikwexwelhp, has no bars. It barely has fences.

And while a typical Canadian would likely be angered and appalled by this taxpayer funded adventure in social engineering... English film-maker Hugh Brody is simply thrilled to pieces.

An author, anthropologist and filmmaker who has been shuttling between England, his birthplace, and Canada for 30 years, Brody initially asked permission to visit Kwikwexwelhp and talk to some of the younger inmates.

What he found when he arrived startled him: “I was immediately surprised by the openness,” he recalls. “Not just the beauty of the setting, but the way you couldn't tell who was on staff and who was imprisoned.”

22 May 2009

It was fortuitous that I included the full text of the original article here in the comments. Apparently the Red Star has disappeared the original article that refers to McClintic's lawyer's comments about "helping Tori's family."

Funny how that works, huh?

**********

RELATED: Hillbilly heroin in friendly Woodstock

Why is it, the fuzzy-bunny socialists always calling for legalisation of drugs?

21 May 2009

The shooter was chased by a Toronto Housing security guard before he disappeared into a ravine bordering Humber River.

About 30 minutes later, a 34-year-old man was cornered when he became stranded on a dirt mound in the middle of the river. He was wearing the same clothing described by numerous witnesses but did not have any weapons.

After removing the woman from her home, paramedics worked feverishly to save her as residents watched in shock. The woman was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead, becoming the city's 19th murder victim of the year.

Rafferty's co-accused, 18-year old Terri-Lynne McClintic was abandoned at a young age by her biological mother, who worked as stripper, and moved around Ontario before coming to Woodstock a few years ago.

It would be a watershed moment - there are currently no genetically engineered animals approved for sale as food anywhere in the world - and opponents are predicting a wave of consumer outrage.

In other "we have the technology... almost" news...

"If all households were stocked with the more efficient equipment, Canadians would cut five of the 6.3 terawatt-hours of standby power they consume each year, which is enough to power all the homes in New Brunswick."

Well, it would if... like the heavily touted electric car from General Motors... actually existed.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Not sure what you are talking about Neo, but General Motors did make and produce the EV1 back in the 1990's."

Hmmm... that sounds so familiar...

In 2006 Sony Pictures produced a Michael Moore-type “documentary” film entitled, “Who Killed the Electric Car”. Among the “villains” in the EV1’s death were GM, the U.S. federal government and even CARB.

But the real killer was the apathy of a public that was not interested in electric cars with the limited driving range provided by the available battery technology.

And...

"Let me see if I get this straight: they want me to wait until 9PM to put on my dishwasher, but everything would be hunky-dory if 100,000 commuters plugged in their electric cars at the same time?"

-- NEW YORK CITY -- The men ordered and accepted delivery of materials they believed were bomb-making ingredients, authorities said. But investigators said they made sure the materials the suspects received were inert.

The four men are in custody and are expected to be arraigned Thursday in White Plains federal court on terrorism-related counts.

Another attack foiled, but guess what folks... this is a question of when... not if.

Since the 9/11 attacks, authorities have arrested suspects in a number of alleged plots against area targets including the Fort Dix New Jersey military base, John F. Kennedy Airport, the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The suspects were identified as James Cromitie, also known as Abdul Rahman; David Williams, also known as Daoud or simply DL; Onta Williams, also known as Hamza; and Laguerre Payen, also known as Amin and Almondo.

In a strange almost anti-Obama bipartisan moment the U.S. senate voted 90-6 to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States and also denied the Obama administration the funding to close the place down.

Ezra Levant's Shakedown, and his three-year advocacy, have been the "blast of the trumpet" against this trespass. And we should be grateful for his effort. Support him, too. Buy the book.

Rex Murphy speaks freely as a commentator with CBC-TV's The National and host of CBC Radio's Cross-Country Checkup.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Does Christine Elliott support the tribunal or is she playing politics to distort Randy Hillier's and Tim Hudak's positions. Christine tell us if you support the tribunal and paying the salary of Barbara Hall."

Two men are in hospital following a shooting in North York Tuesday night.

Police were called to the north end of Wendell Ave., just south of Highway 401 near Weston Rd., around 10:30 p.m.

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RELATED: The new entrepreneurs...

A 15-year-old girl lured from her group home, provided with fake identification and forced to serve up sex in a Mississauga strip club is likely one of several girls victimized by area pimps, say Peel Regional Police.

19 May 2009

Toronto police are investigating a late-night shooting in north Scarborough that left one man in hospital with serious injuries and another in police custody. Shots rang out just before midnight Monday in a parking lot of a shopping plaza located on Finch Avenue, just east of Kennedy Road.

Authorities say they are investigating whether the gun battle that erupted between a two groups of men was caught on a surveillance camera that was set up in the plaza. Investigators say they found numerous shell casings in the parking lot.

The plaza remained closed throughout Tuesday morning while police examined evidence at the scene.

Curiously, once more, Mayor Miller's office strangely silent on which gun club the shooters belonged to.

Herein lies the dichotomy, the decision to focus on reducing suffering is made only after life-prolonging treatment has been ineffectual and death is imminent. It's very hard to switch gears - to let go of the rope.

It's a lot easier when you have a clear sense that this is what the person would have wanted.

-- VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Vancouver sex trade workers need to know their rights when dealing with cameras and reporters and will be offered media training leading up to the 2010 Olympic Games, an advocacy group said.

Hang on a sec... hooker journalism is gonna be an integral part of the Olympic television coverage? What's up with that? Is this some new marketing plan to reverse the CBC's failing fortunes?

"We find sometimes that media attention to the area can be a little less than compassionate and we don't want them to feel like animals in a zoo during that time."

Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Because, inevitably, it's the shy, sensitive types giving ten dollar blowjobs to unwashed strangers in dark alleys to help pay for their next fix.

18 May 2009

It is a harsh, but necessary thing to point out that, in reality, children are hostages to their parents. They are vulnerable, both physically and psychically.

If parents teach their children that the world is flat, the children will not only uncritically take that on as a personal belief, but they will fight others psychologically, even physically, who disagree, because disagreement is an indirect attack against their parents on whom they are one hundred percent dependent.

The correlation is nearly total: If parents believe in a particular religion, their children, as adults, will as well.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Bless my folks: one agnostic, the other atheist, but saw that I got to catechism and church until I made up my own mind that, as has been said, "Its not that I don't believe in god. Its just that I don't trust his ground crew".